Quick Wrap – Up

So I went a little MIA after I said I would blog more consistently. The last few weeks, I have had a hard time finding the motivation to blog. Its not that I haven’t been watching anime; I have. It just seems that after Anime Weekend Atlanta and seeing all the awesome-ness of anime in one spot, I felt sort of empty. Convention withdrawal of some sort. However, I have been thinking about a lot of things between that time. The ending of Shingeki no Kyojin for one. There must be more coming out. There has to be.

It disappointed me. There. I admitted it. If this was truly the last episode, then it was one giant infomercial for the manga. Because we learned nothing of substance. We watched Eren continue to waffle back and forth, whine, cry, the stereotypical male anime character; normally weak but has this one trick that makes him amazing. What saved this show was the great fight scenes and the animation style because the story grew quite stale. I get it; I need to read the manga if I want to know what’s in Eren’s father’s basement. I need to read the manga to find out more about Annie who I really don’t believe is a “bad” guy. Her story has got to be good. It was befitting that she encased herself in “ice” as she was definitely an ice queen. We got a few flashes of her life that just whet my appetite for more of her story. She definitely outranked Mikasa in the latter episodes in terms of “bad-ass female character”. For those who haven’t seen the show yet (pretty far and few between from what I gather), I won’t add more because I don’t want to spoil anything. I avoided reading blogs about the show because I didn’t want it to taint my final thoughts. And my final thoughts…not impressed. Uchouten Kazoku (The Eccentric Family) ended much better.

Speaking of Uchouten Kazoku, I enjoyed this show and it had a satisfactory ending that left me feeling complete. Uchouten Kazoku was definitely about an eccentric family. A family of tanuki (raccoon dogs) who spend most of their time in the guise of humans try to enjoy their lives after the death of the patriarch of the family and leader of the tanuki. Their various of coping were definitely entertaining, the eldest brother became even more of a stick in the mud, the next to oldest turned himself into a frog and wouldn’t revert back, the next to youngest lived wild and free, and the baby acted just that. The method of their father’s death was most unfortunate and also a source of constant nightmare to all tanuki; being cooked and eaten by a group of humans called the Friday Fellows. Fast-paced show, likable characters, lots of drunken fun. Mostly every character got a story and you got to see the connections between them all. I love when I get a fleshed out story without being rushed. I would probably watch this one again.

I also completed Silver Spoon. This was one of the best of the season. It is a great slice of life. Definitely not for those who are more action-oriented. The only action you’re going to see here is the slaying of pigs, deer, and cooking pizza. I would really like a good slice of pizza right now and some hot chocolate. A good coming of age story; finding yourself when you have no goal at all. Its a reminder that just because you don’t have a plan, doesn’t mean that you can’t end up with one or there will be no fulfillment in life. So I said this would be a quick wrap-up, so there it is. I do need to be more consistent with my blogging or I end up wanting to ramble about everything.

What I’m Watching Now

Kill la Kill – (shocker!) – This is chock full of fan-service but so far I have been amused greatly. I laugh hysterically each episode. I saw a long Tumblr post about how the fanservice of this show is really female empowerment. Interesting perspective.

Beyond the Boundary – So far not bad. Half-demon/half-human strangely attracted to a spirit world warrior who apparently can calm him in his demon state (Inuyasha, anyone?). She’s got poison blood, he’s half-demon/half-human; both are feared. Perfect recipe for a strong relationship, don’t you think? Things have gotten real interesting in the last episode.

Arpeggio of Blue Steel – Cute girls as war machines. One war machine will only listen to a particular human guy. Another war machine wants him too. See where this is going?

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1 Comment

Well, November, as National Blog Posting Month, is a great time to start getting in the regular habit of posting. I’ve made a commitment to posts once a day on Medieval Otaku, and hope that I will not have to do the same on two other blogs.

I am hearing many good things about Beyond the Boundary. Need to watch that soon. I’m also enjoying Kill la Kill and Arpeggio of Blue Steel. The odd thing with Kill la Kill’s fanservice is that none of the characters are drawn in an especially attractive manner–must be the large heads and thick outlines; so I’m forced to conclude with the Tumblr poster that it must have a thematic goal. Along with several other bloggers, I think that it’s attacking the current way in which the Japanese approach shame–not necessarily female empowerment.

Well, good thing that I stopped watching Shingeki no Kyoujin at episode 9! The slow pacing of the episodes gave me the feeling that it would be simply an advertisement for the manga!